Children among seven dead as migrant boat capsizes
Credit: Reuters
Two five-year-old girls were among seven people killed when a migrant boat capsized as it reached a port in Spain's Canary Islands.
The victims drowned after migrants waiting to disembark the overcrowded boat accidentally capsized it by crowding on one side in what was the latest tragedy on the perilous route, emergency services said.
Juan Miguel Padron, the mayor of El Pinar municipality, told local television that around 150 people were on the boat. It was being escorted by a rescue ship to La Restinga harbour on El Hierro, the archipelago's smallest island, when tragedy struck.
As it neared the port, the vessel tipped over and some of the migrants 'were trapped in the boat and others died while being saved', Mr Padron added. Four women, two girls aged five and another girl aged 16, were killed.
A three-year-old boy and a third five-year-old girl almost drowned before being transported by helicopter to a hospital in Tenerife, the emergency services wrote on X.
Two three-month-old babies, a pregnant woman and three minors were in hospital on El Hierro, they said.
RTVE, the Spanish public broadcaster, aired footage of rescuers throwing lifebuoys to people clinging onto an overturned boat and treading water off El Hierro.
Spain's maritime rescue service told AFP in a statement that a rescue ship had found the boat that morning and accompanied it to La Restinga.
'During the disembarkation, some of the people travelling on the boat crowded on one of the sides, which caused it to tilt and capsize,' the service said.
'The transfer of people is the most delicate moment of the operation and, with the vessels being overloaded and with precarious security conditions, the difficulty increases notably.'
Alpidio Armas, the head of El Hierro's local government, questioned how the migrants could be saved on the high seas but die in the apparent safety of a port. 'We are doing something wrong,' he told reporters.
Each year, Spain takes in tens of thousands of Europe-bound migrants who arrive in the Canary Islands from West Africa, with Malians, Senegalese and Moroccans the most common nationalities.
Strong ocean currents and ramshackle vessels make the long crossing dangerous. According to Caminando Fronteras, an NGO, at least 10,457 migrants died or disappeared while trying to reach Spain by sea between Jan 1 and Dec 5 last year.
Anselmo Pestana, the central government's representative in the archipelago, explained that the migrants' fatigue complicated the emergency response in the water. 'If the rescue was not immediate, they probably sank very quickly,' he told journalists.
Local authorities have consistently warned of unsustainable pressure on their resources and complained about a lack of solidarity.
'We ask for decisive action from the European Union,' Fernando Clavijo Batlle, the Canary Islands' regional leader, told reporters in La Restinga. 'This is unfortunately what we experience... those who are very far away in offices are incapable of understanding it.'
Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish prime minister, wrote on X that the deaths 'should move us all'.
'Lives lost in a desperate attempt to find a better future. We must rise to the occasion. It's a question of humanity,' he said.
Almost 47,000 irregular arrivals reached the archipelago last year, breaking the annual record for the second year running, as tighter controls in the Mediterranean pushed migrants to attempt the Atlantic route.
But numbers are down so far this year, dropping 34.4 per cent between Jan 1 and May 15 compared with the same period in 2024, according to the latest interior ministry figures.
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